In
the world of fine wine, Madeira is an oddity. It stands alone,
without peers or imitators. The goal of this short series is to
look at what makes Madeira different, to assess the different
producers of this unusual and interesting wine, and to help
those who are curious to learn more to work out the best
strategy of discovering Madeira for themselves.

First
the basics: a short and snappy summary. Madeira (the island)
sits strategically in the middle of the Atlantic, between the
Portuguese and west African coasts, on an important trade route
of old. Madeira (the wine) It was discovered by accident: the
story goes that wines from the island were taken on board,
fortified with alcohol to survive conditions at sea, and then
were baked in the tropical heat of the voyage, developing all
sorts of interesting flavours on the way. Thus Madeira is a
fortified wine that gains complexity by being exposed to high
temperatures over a long period.

Madeira
at a glance

Madeira
is a volcanic island, and it’s quite a challenge
growing grapes here. If it hadn’t been for the
island’s important position on the trade routes, thus
creating a strong market for wine, it’s likely that no
one would have made the effort. Vines are grown in tiny
plots—typically, a smallholder will grow vines on
pergolas, with cabbages and other crops growing
underneath. There are an estimated 14 000 different
vineyard plots on the island, and with a total vineyard
area of 1700 hectares, it’s clear that most plots
cover just a fraction of a hectare each. Each of the
major companies will therefore buy in grapes from many
hundreds of different growers, creating obvious
difficulties for quality control.

The
humidity and warm temperatures are ideal conditions for
fungal diseases, which are a real problem. As a result,
there are quite a lot of disease-resistant non-Vitis
vinifera grapes on the island, which aren’t
allowed to go into bottled Madeira.

Madeira
is a fortified wine named after the Atlantic island it
comes from, and is made by a special heating process
that warms the wine over a prolonged period

It comes in a variety
of styles, ranging from dry to very sweet, and the best
examples are capable of ageing almost indefinitely

Once opened, a bottle
of Madeira will stay fresh for ages - it's resistant to
oxidation

Expect to find complex
flavours of toffee, caramel, nuts, marmalade and
raisins, all backed up with bright, fresh acidity

Expect to pay around £10
for the cheapest commercial styles, rising to £50+ for
a top vintage wine

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Yields
are heroic, often touching 200 hectolitres per hectare (compare
this with the 40–60 hl/ha typical of most quality vineyards in
other European regions). Although the island has a warm climate,
sugar levels in the grapes are typically low, at around 8–10
degrees potential alcohol. If these grapes were used to make
table wines, they’d be pretty grim.

There
are five key grape varieties. The first is Tinta Negra Mole, a
red grape that is Madeira’s workhorse variety, but which has
gained an unfair reputation for poor quality. Then there are the
four classic grapes: Sercial, Verdelho, Bual and Malmsey. These
typically make wines with sweetness varying in that order (Sercial
is quite dry and Malmsey very sweet). However, these four only
consititute around 10% of plantings on the island.

It’s
the way that Madeira is made that makes it special. Grapes are
crushed and the must is fermented, but then, before fermentation
is complete and while the must still has some sweetness, alcohol
is added to fortify the wine. Sweetness may be further adjusted
by using concentrated grape juice (or less attractively, for
cheap wines, sugar boiled down into caramel). Then begins the
all important maturation process. The modern method used for
most commercial wines is called ‘estufagem’. The wine is
taken and heated to up to 55 degrees centigrade for a few
months. The better, but rarely used method is called ‘canteiro’,
in which wines are transferred to casks and aged in lofts that
naturally attain warm temperatures in the high 30s centigrade,
or sometimes even higher. There’s quite a bit of evaporation
from the casks at these temperatures, helping to concentrate the
wines. Often, producers will squirrel away their best casks and
then bottle them, sometimes directly from the cask, as much as a
century later.

Importantly,
because Madeira is exposed to oxygen and heat through its
development, it’s pretty much bombproof and an open bottle
will keep in good condition for years.

So
what are the different styles and quality levels? At the bottom
end there are three year old wines. These are labelled simply
according to sweetness. As with most commercial styles, these
wines will be a blend of varieties based on Tinta Negra Mole.
Next on the quality ladder is the five year old category,
followed by ten and fifteen year old categories. These start to
show what Madeira is all about. At the pinnacle of the quality
tree lie the vintage wines, which are much more expensive and
often released very old. It’s worth mentioning here a new
category of wines, labelled as single harvest or colheita –
these are vintage wines released much earlier, and this looks
like a category that is likely to be of increasing importance.

One
further point needs emphasizing. Since January 2002 the rules
have been changed, and now only bottled wines are allowed to be
exported. It’s a move designed to protect the quality image of
Madeira, and has had a big effect on the statistic of volumes
exported by cutting out bulk exports.

Now
the scene is set, the following sections will cover the
different producers and their wines.